Celebrity-owned cosmetics brands are certainly having a moment.
Dozens of stars such as Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Rihanna and Hailey Bieber have launched direct-to-consumer skincare lines, while male celebrities like Harry Styles and Pharrell Williams are tapping into the men’s and unisex beauty markets with their own brands.
Brad Pitt is the latest Hollywood actor to step into the world of beauty by launching a pricey skincare line, La Domaine, that is aimed at all genders and skin tones.
“Le Domaine is built on values that come from the earth, shared by its cofounders – the Perrin family and Brad Pitt – with their love for Provence and its beauty,” it states on the brand’s website.
However, the 58-year-old actor and film producer has faced backlash from the beauty industry, particularly by six beauty entrepreneurs who have come together to rebuke the actor in an open letter.
The letter, published on the website notanothercelebritybrand.com, has been signed by “A crew of brilliant beauty-tech female founders” including Winnie from Carra, Molly from Highr, Megan & Ksenia from Lionne, Jasmin from Ohana and Sam from Elth.
It reads:
Dear Brad,
Let us preface this letter by saying we love you. Collectively, we’ve watched your body of work hundreds of times and will happily watch them a hundred times more. We seriously think you rock at your profession.
Our profession is beauty. We are a collective of beauty founders who have decades of experience in this industry, and who quit their jobs to create better ways forward, better products, better solutions, better platforms, and ultimately a better industry. We tirelessly work our asses off day in and day out. We haul loads of customer shipments to the post office, we dedicate countless hours to deep research, we learn to code, we build websites and apps, and try everything in our power to get in front of editors, journalists and influencers to gain the awareness that our hard work, killer products, and companies deserve. Every day, we give new meaning to making lemonade from lemons.
Over the past few years, it seems that every celebrity feels like they can waltz into the industry that we have worked in our whole careers and gain the awareness overnight that we are so fighting for. You, dear celebrities, have NO experience in this industry. And no, showing up to a photoshoot does not count as an experience. You never interned in this industry or started as a low-level employee. You will never have to haul your day’s orders to the post office or learn to code your own site. You will never not sleep because you don’t know how you’re going to pay your staff or for your inventory. But you will get recognition because you are a celebrity. We can’t waltz into your industry and star in a movie. If we could, we would so you would know how this feels. We find ourselves increasingly disillusioned by most new celebrity beauty brands and it appears that we are not alone in this. The internet is speaking up too and they are tired.
This is where you come in Brad. As the purveyor of yet another new celebrity beauty brand, we’d like to make a gentle suggestion:
Please stop.
We love you too much and would prefer to continue enjoying your movies without thinking of you as yet ‘another buzzy but ineffectual celebrity beauty brand’.
If this industry is an industry that you truly want to be a part of, then invest in or partner with us. Think of it as becoming our executive producer. Invest in early-stage founders who are already in the arena, building innovative solutions to make the industry more inclusive, sustainable, and climate-friendly.
We have a great portfolio of companies that have signed below. Our valuations and pitch decks are available on request.
Oh and Brad, please pass this message on to your pals.
Le Domaine is made using grapes grown on Château Beaucastel, a vineyard in France that Pitt owns and that he also sells rosé from.
Le Domaine Skincare features four key products: a serum, a cream, a fluid cream and a cleaning emulsion, housed in sustainable packaging through the use of recyclable glass bottles and jars, and reusable stoppers made of oak cut from the scraps of the vineyard’s wine barrels.
Prices for the brand’s products range from a hefty US$80 ($124) for the cleanser to a whopping US$385 ($596) for the serum.
The products are and are infused with two active ingredients – GSM10 and ProGR3 – which were created in close collaboration with Professor Pierre-Louis Teissedre and Professor Nicolas Lévy.
The products are not yet available in Australia.
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